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Home Entertainment
For most of 2007, Blu-ray outsold HD DVD in the U.S. by a 2-to-1 margin. With Warner's recent decision to release titles exclusively on Blu-ray, HD DVD's sales numbers has dropped even further. According to the Home Media Magazine, Blu-ray accounted for 85% of last week's high-def disc sales, outselling HD DVD by more than 5-to-1.

The product announcements come in a week when the top 10 high-definition disc sellers are all Blu-ray Disc releases, according to an analysis of Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales numbers by Home Media Magazine’s market research department.

Net HD DVD sales, according to Nielsen, constituted only 15% of hi-def disc sales last week. And the top HD DVD seller, The Kingdom, sold just 10% as many copies as the top Blu-ray Disc release, 3:10 to Yuma.
While Toshiba may be able to keep HD DVD on life support by offering cheap players, the format won't survive long on sales numbers like this. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Please feel free to share your thoughts in our forum. Add a comment

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Hard Disks
Earlier this week, G-Technology unveiled the world's first 500GB 2.5" portable hard disk drive. Designed specifically for the Mac environment, the G-DRIVE mini Triple 500 comes formatted HFS+ and is equipped with FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports.

G-Technology, Inc. (www.g-technology.com, G-Tech), a manufacturer of premium storagesolutions for the Apple Mac community that was acquired today by Fabrik Inc.(www.fabrik.com), announces a new addition to its G-DRIVE mini external storage family.With a FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interface, the new G-DRIVE mini Triple 500 isthe first portable drive in the industry at 500GB giving AV professionals and multimediaenthusiasts fast, high-capacity portable storage. Compact and light weight - around 10 oz - the G-DRIVE mini easliy slips into a computer, camara or camcorder bag, holding more than45 hours of high defenition video, 200,000 5 Mpixel JPEG photos, or 125,000 MP3 files.Because the device is bus-powered, no bulky AC adaptor is required.
G-Tech plans to ship the G-DRIVE mini in March 2008. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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Flash Memory
Transcend recently announced the release of its new 32GB 133X CompactFlash card. Designed for both reliability and performance, the card features built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) and is capable of 45MB/s read and 16MB/s writing speeds.

Transcend’s 133x CF cards target users who demand superior performance and reliability from their memory cards, including professional photographers, reporters and photography enthusiasts. To ensure ultimate compatibility and speed, these cards operate in both dual-channel and Ultra DMA mode 4 modes*. Transcend’s 133x CF cards achieve extraordinarily fast read/write speeds of up to 45MB/16MB per second on average**, making consecutive shooting and non-stop video recording with today’s high-performance digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLR) easier than ever. With impressive transfer speeds and enormous capacities up to 32GB, users are guaranteed to get the very best performance results from their high-tech digital equipment.
No word on pricing or availability. If you'd like to read more, Transcend's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
I-O DATA Japan has announced two new "Super-Multi" drives based on the AD-7200A and AD-7203A from Sony NEC Optiarc. These new drives feature 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and, in the case of the DVR-AN20GL, support for LabelFlash technology.



Writing Speeds:
DVD±R: 20x
DVD±R DL: 8x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD-RW: 6x
DVD-RAM: 12x
CD-R: 48x
CD-RW: 32x

Read Speeds:
DVD-ROM (Single): 16x Max
DVD-ROM (Dual): 12x Max
DVD±R: 16x Max
DVD±RW: 13x Max
DVD±R DL: 12x Max
DVD-RAM: 12X Max
CD-R/ROM: 48x Max
CD-RW: 40x Max
The DVR-AN20GL and DVR-AN20GS will hit store shelves in late January and are priced at 8500 Yen($79) and 7400 Yen($69) respectively. Additional information can be found here and here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
If you're a Star Wars or Family Guy fan, you've probably been looking forward to the release of Blue Harvest. Those that purchase the movie on DVD will also get a digital copy that can be imported into iTunes and viewed on a computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.

Just announced at Macworld, Twentieth Century Fox today released the studio's first Special Edition DVD with Digital Copy for iTunes, the Family Guy “Star Wars” parody FAMILY GUY PRESENTS: BLUE HARVEST - in stores now. Consumers who purchase BLUE HARVEST with the additional Digital Copy of the movie can effortlessly transfer a copy of the film to their iTunes library and then view on a Mac or PC, iPod, iPhone or on Apple TV...

...The new iTunes Digital Copy provides a consumer friendly way to transfer a DVD purchase to a user’s iTunes library. Once a customer buys the DVD, they insert into their computer, enter a unique code into iTunes and iTunes automatically copies the movie to their iTunes library within minutes. Customers own the iTunes Digital Copy of the movies and it has all of the same great viewing options as other iTunes Store video content, including the ability to be viewed on a computer, iPod, iPhone and Apple TV. Each DVD will only transfer its iTunes Digital Copy to one iTunes library.
While the iTunes Digital Copy is chock full of DRM, it makes it easy for consumers to transfer the movie into their iTunes library. Not to mention, it saves them from having to purchase the movie again from Apple. More information on the Digital Copy included with Blue Harvest can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

AOpen S150 ITX Case @ASE Labs
ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ Motherboard @Phoronix
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250w PSU @TweakTown
Foxconn X38A Digital Life Motherboard @TweakTown
OCZ Technology PC3-10666 ReaperX HPC 2GB DDR3 Kit @Bigbruin.com
Samsung SyncMaster 245T 24-Inch LCD Monitor @Tweaknews.net
Thecus N5200 Pro NAS @Virtual-Hideout
Vizo Ninja II Notebook Cooler @DV Hardware
Western Digital My Book Premium ES Edition @TweakPC
Wolfking Warrior Gaming Keyboard @BCCHardware
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Software
Nero announced today that Bang & Olufsen has integrated Nero Digital Audio+ technology into its new mobile phone and personal audio player. According to their press release, Nero Digital Audio+ is fully compatible with the latest MPEG-4 audio standard and has been designed to provide high-quality playback at a variety of bit rates.
Nero, leaders in digital media technology, announced today that Bang & Olufsen’s Serenata mobile phone and the BeoSound 6 mobile personal audio player will feature Nero Digital Audio+, which is fully compatible with the latest MPEG-4 audio standard (LC-AAC, HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2). Nero Digital Audio+ consistently wins blind listening tests when matched against other leading audio encoders by delivering the highest fidelity with distortion-free 24-bit digital output and built-in support for up to 7.1 audio channels.

The Serenata and BeoSound 6 will both be bundled and delivered with BeoPlayer software which integrates Nero Digital Audio+ technology to play back AAC files.
If you'd like to read more, Nero's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Hard Disks
Iomega announced at Macworld that they've expanded their line of eGo portable hard drives. The company has added new models with dual interfaces, higher capacities and eye-catching colors.

Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM), a global leader in data storage and protection, today introduced new higher capacity and dual interface models for its hugely popular Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive, which has changed the way computer users view design and function in portable hard drives.

The newest additions to the Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive family include 160GB* and 250GB models with dual USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 interfaces, available in Cherry Red, Jet Black and Alpine White. Iomega also announced today new 250GB USB 2.0-powered models in Cherry Red, Midnight Blue and Jet Black.
More information, including prices, is available on Iomega's website. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
While many see Warner's decision to support Blu-ray as a sign that the format war is ending, this has had little effect on retailers. According to Home Media Magazine, national retailers, like Best Buy, are continuing to sell hardware and software in both formats.
Last week, Best Buy spokesperson Brian Lucas said the retailer would continue stocking HD DVD so long as studios release content in HD DVD and there is a market for the format.

“As far as we’re concerned there are still two formats and the format war is not really over,” Lucas said.

He said Best Buy would continue telling customers about the two formats and not take sides so they could make “an informed decision.”
As someone who reads the Sunday circulars religiously, I can say that, in most cases, retailers are giving equal ad space to both formats. However, with Toshiba's latest round of price cuts and more titles being released on Blu-ray, things could swing either way. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

ASUS EAH3850 TOP Graphics Card @HotHardware.com
ASUS Triton 75 CPU Cooler @Virtual-Hideout
CellPoint Flamingo Bluetooth Headset @BlueTomorrow.com
Gigabyte 3D Mercury Water Cooled Case @Phoronix
Super Talent PC14400 1800Mhz DDR3 2GB Memory Kit @Tweaknews.net
Thermalright Ultima 90I CPU Cooler @HardwareLogic
Zagg iPhone Full Body invisibleSHIELD @I4U
Zerotherm Hurricane HC92 CU 8800 VGA Cooler @Tweaknews.net
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